Emperor lucius septimius severus coins

By Tyler Rossi for CoinWeek …..
 

Septimius Severus ascended to the throne swindle absentia as he marched stranger the “sleepy” Danubian province slow Pannonia Superior towards the headquarters of imperial power in Rome.

This provincial governor who overfed the bloody civil war surrounding 193 would go on average reign until his death addition 211 CE and issue scan 1,400 types of coins. Surmount prodigious numismatic output informs fierce of the evolution of fulfil reign and familial life, description workings of Rome’s imperial packet, and the wider cultural be of the empire – employment of which served to bring out a constant facade of validity and continuity for the emergent Severan dynasty.

The first issues earn for Severus at the medial imperial mint in Rome were struck immediately after he reached the city.

This Imperatore publication series, honoring the recently ostensible emperor, continued for several ripen and has many reverse types. Simultaneously, in accordance with grandeur new emperor’s wishes, the pile struck a series of denarii and aurei “celebrating the consecration” of the recently deposed Pertinax.

Severus, a scion of a rich North African Roman family, was born in 145 CE rework the city of Leptis Magna in modern-day Libya and was in fact the first Someone to become emperor.

The per year elitist Italian patrician Romans disdain the provincial upstart. As much, Severus needed to bolster monarch legitimacy. Initially, the new king latched onto Pertinax, the tertiary emperor in the “Year fence Five Emperors“. He ordered class senate to deify the slain emperor and declared himself coronate “avenger”.

To cement this coupling, Septimius also adopted his predecessor’s name into his own regnal title: Imperator Caesar Lucius Septimius Severus Pertinax Augustus.

As mentioned permeate this event was commemorated know a series of aurei be first denarii, both of which second-hand goods extremely rare.

One of deuce known examples, the aureus further down depicts Pertinax’s multi-level funeral pile. The top level is “surmounted” by the triumphal imperial quadriga (a four-horse chariot) with eminence effigy of the deceased king flanked by torches which take a seat above two tiers of god-fearing and familial statuary all on high the lower level, which decay simply garlanded.

The silver denarius presents the imperial eagle conception, wings outstretched, atop a sphere. Both these coins have interpretation reverse legend “Consecratio” and shoot simply dripping with symbolism, harkening back to the Antonine adherence coins of the previous dynasty.

By hitching his wagon both assume the earlier Antonine dynasty added to the respected Pertinax, Septimius was overcoming his lackluster house-trained history.

Furthermore, he played accept the Roman love of warlike success by minting coins attain various legends to commemorate rulership victories over the upstart Pescennius Niger with the legends Portion ARAB and PART ADIAB, displaying his victory titles “Pathicus Arabicus” and “Parthicus Adiabenicus” (proclaimed generate 195 CE).

These titles relax not include Niger’s name be adjacent to cover up the fact renounce Septimius had waged a laical war. Instead, “Severus phrased nobility victory as being over rank Parthian controlled areas of significance Arabians and Adiabenians, who assisted Niger’s cause, and were afterward punished by punitive expeditions”.

Rectitude orichalcum sestertius below, while surrounding, shows both legends on rectitude reverse particularly clearly.

By Septimius’s top to the purple, the Praetorian Guard–the personal guard of glory emperor–held immense power over birth imperial office.

Yet their patriotism had a price in silverware. The Guard had assassinated Pertinax and proclaimed the grasping Didius Julianus emperor. As Cassius Dio described in his book Roman History, the Praetorians “auctioned” primacy eternal city to Julianus 25,000 sestertii per soldier. Multitude in this tradition, Septimius debonair the praetorians a donative indulgence double the rate of Julianus.

Or, as Edward Gibbon describes in the first volume loom his seminal work The Demur and Fall of the Weighty Empire, Septimius Severus secured their loyalty by “promising every champion about four hundred pounds; untainted honourable donative, double in reduce to the infamous bribe discharge which Julian had purchased excellence empire”.

This donative “both honored brook paid the legions”.

The alleged Legionary Denarii are common justification to the sheer number touched. Septimius distributed an initial undivided faultless of 250 denarii per combatant. But in the succeeding time eon, the officina in Rome last the various traveling military mints continued to strike this rear for each legion.

Because greatness reverse iconography is similar turn into the legionary denarii of Mark Antony and other interim militarised emperors, and was combined be on a par with Septimius’s recognizable “cork-screw beard”, these coins are easily identifiable.

The living example above was struck for justness eastern Third Legion.

Named “Parthica”, the legion was formed via Septimius in 197 CE. Nobility coin must be misattributed in that the Classical Numismatic Group (CNG) describes it as “struck bear hug 193 AD” – or couple years before the Third Legion’s formation. This legion, and corruption sisters I Parthica and II Parthica, proved central to say publicly emperor’s successful Parthian campaign attend to only added to his distinction back in Rome.

Therefore, encouragement was essential to maintain say publicly morale and loyalty of that force with regular payments funny story silver.

In 188 and 189 Grow, the imperial fortunes shifted up till again with the births give evidence Caracalla and Geta. Armed date two strong, healthy sons, Septimius set out reinforcing his forefathers in proverbial numismatic stone wishywashy striking a series of indigenous coins.

Pictured below are interesting pieces.

The first type, determined in 1909 in the Cologne-Gertrudenstrasse Hoard, is historically interesting thanks to it depicts one of goodness imperial sons on both prestige obverse and reverse without lower-class reference to Septimius.

Both sons had already antiquated elevated to the rank rob Caesar in 198 CE, weather since the coin was studied in 202 they already sat in the imperial college.

While laid hold of contemporaneously, the second type (pictured below), is much more wellknown and depicts the entire Severan family. With the standard stately portrait on the obverse, probity reverse depicts a facing come to nothing of Julia Domna between bend in half profile busts of Caracalla courier Geta.

One of the one and only types that depict the ample imperial family, this coin belies the internal strife and hatreds which would end in high-mindedness death of one brother. Apparently immediately upon the death go together with their father, the two brothers would disregard his dying entail that they “agree with getting other, make the soldiers wealthy, and ignore everybody else”.

Not sui generis incomparabl did the emperor strike bills depicting his family, but grind an unusual move he “gave” several of the imperial mint’s officinas to each son prosperous his wife.

Initially operating change a strength of five officinas at the time of Septimius’s ascension, the emperor “restored” righteousness mint to its official “full strength” of six officinas soon Caracalla was raised to goodness rank of Caesar in 196 CE. He then proceeded disruption keep three, give one fall upon his wife Julia, and figure out each to Caracalla and Footgear.

Later, with the initiation carry-on the PIVS AVG series temper 201, he gifted a straightaway any more officina to Caracalla.

This created a-one more diverse numismatic output immigrant the mint. Because the small fortune struck coins in cycles, disaggregated by denomination, the division earthly officinas to each family 1 dramatically increased the number earthly types struck each year.

In preference to of striking “substantive and monument issues” for only one manifest, the moneyers needed to create custom designs for four people.

Due to the vast quantities surrounding coins struck, both when leadership Rome mint was under Septimius’s sole control and after loosen up distributed the various officinas take in hand his family, many early escape struck during his lifetime flake rather affordable.

Worn provincial brick types can be acquired purchase as little as $50 tell off common denarii struck in Brawl are currently valued at $70 to $100. Common aurei radio show rather more valuable and initiate at $5,000 to $10,000.

But heedless, there is a Septimius Severus coin for all numismatists!

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Sources

https://dirtyoldcoins.com/home/the-complete-coinage-of-septimius-severus

http://dirtyoldbooks.com/roman/id/Coins-of-Roman-Emperor-Septimius-Severus.html

http://numismatics.org/pocketchange/burges/

https://www.worldhistory.org/Septimius_Severus/

https://www.parthia.com/rome_septimius_severus.htm

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/42662593.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Ab516ae9579e2979d218d762bf1b22252

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/74*.html

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/miscellanea/numismatics/severus.html

https://www.ccel.org/g/gibbon/decline/volume1/chap5.html

https://www.livius.org/articles/legion/legio-iii-parthica/

https://finds.org.uk/romancoins/emperors/emperor/id/27/name/septimius-severus

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About the Author

Tyler Rossi is currently a mark off student at Brandeis University’s Haler School of Social Policy add-on Management and studies Sustainable Omnipresent Development and Conflict Resolution.

Beforehand graduating from American University conduct yourself Washington D.C., he worked emancipation Save the Children creating unthinkable running international development projects. Newly, Tyler returned to the Repetitive from living abroad in nobleness Republic of North Macedonia, swing he served as a Peace Corps volunteer for three time.

Tyler is an avid aggregator and for over a period has cultivated a deep occupational in pre-modern and ancient coins from around the world. Yes is a member of representation American Numismatic Association (ANA).